Team BKool CycleChat

[bobinski]

Thanks for hosting the race Bill.

I was going to question why Pro-minator did not win this one with his massive watt output, but decided to just check how much one can save by drafting.
I'm guessing that Pro-minator was on his own up front, while I had the benefit of drafting throughout ...
Oh, and Bob, that was quite a convincing "knee-test" .

LB, what are you suggesting?!?, it is pretty sore now, so much so I have had to drink red wine to compensate

 

[RickB]

Sounds like it was a fun night. Sorry I missed it guys. Thanks again bill for running it tonight and for accepting the rides afterwards.

Thanks, and well done to GailB for showing up in Ricks place

Gail did the ride yesterday. She had a 12 hour shift today! Mr and Mrs B doing long hours today!

Looking forward to having a crack at this stage though.

 

[gbrown]

Here's a little test I found
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meHOxRePOk8
, and it looks like it is not entirely impossible to end up with the numbers we see here with drafting vs no drafting.

Even though we know the theory, it is always shocking to see how much power you save drafting.

300 Watts in front, 210 to 219 Watts directly behind, and 167-177 Watts just off to one side in the cross wind.

So a 30% to 40% saving just by sitting behind a single rider!

I would guess that many of us would struggle to maintain 300 Watts for a long time, but find 170-220 Watts a lot easier, so in theory it should be relatively easy to sit behind a more powerful rider, and extremely hard to get away! However, I suspect that many of the simulation variations allow any drafting to break down, and a rider to break free!

I do remember the few times we managed to get a 3 or 4 way draft going it really did make a difference!

Cheers,

Geoff

 

[Baldo Mero]

Not fun for me again, totally exhausting and demoralizing to be passed by riders at 60kmh making their nails while drifting on the smallest down, myself dying to reach 40kmh. I can not even join other riders due to the dramatic differences of speed, it is like riding alone. Not my stage....

 

[Jellybaby]

Well done everyone! Was hoping to join in tonight but didn't get home and sorted in time. Climbed some random Spanish hill instead in the dark and fog-pretty creepy. I used a fan for the first time-wow what a difference!

 

[bobinski]

Bill, seems to be showing now though not in the league. Can you add it? Cheers.

 

[RickB]

Bill, seems to be showing now though not in the league. Can you add it? Cheers.

Sorted Bob.

Heck of a time too. If I can get anywhere near that ill be more than happy!!

 

[bobinski]

Even though we know the theory, it is always shocking to see how much power you save drafting.

300 Watts in front, 210 to 219 Watts directly behind, and 167-177 Watts just off to one side in the cross wind.

So a 30% to 40% saving just by sitting behind a single rider!

I would guess that many of us would struggle to maintain 300 Watts for a long time, but find 170-220 Watts a lot easier, so in theory it should be relatively easy to sit behind a more powerful rider, and extremely hard to get away! However, I suspect that many of the simulation variations allow any drafting to break down, and a rider to break free!

I do remember the few times we managed to get a 3 or 4 way draft going it really did make a difference!

Cheers,

Geoff

I did try to draft LB but i just couldn't get it right. I suspect its much harder to do in a virtual environment or perhaps its just me. Reading David Millars latest book and its really interesting when he writes about the peloton and conserving energy by, say, drafting and then putting on the power to string things out especially where they anticipate cross winds.

 

[NudeCyclist]

Sorry I couldn't join the live ride - I was out on the first 'Christmas Do' of the season. Was pretty happy with my solo time though :-)

 

[Bonno]

Bob. Not sure what data I'm supposed to be looking at there but out of curiosity I did click on Sean's name to try to get to his home page but it's forbidden. He doesn't seem to be a chain gang member so just joined the race randomly. Looked to me like he had a "special" way of going very quickly as the power required to propel him at that speed would mean he had a red top at least. Conversely I felt bad for Runar who has the power but doesn't seem to have the freewheeling momentum that the later Pro units have.

Great ride at the front guys, Impressive win by LBHIFI.
Was 'riding' with you Bill and was also surprised at Sean's speed, one point 30 secs behind you then few seconds later flying past!
Well done at keeping with him but don't blame you almost giving up near the end when he disappeared into the distance doing 30mph up the final big climb!
He's probably still amateur status because his average watts didn't go above 200

 

[BILL S]

LB making a break for it at the front in the overall league results. Might have to try something to close the gap a little, probably involving much rest then a final go (with some ghost drafting) before the stage closes. Not quite sure who to draft though, but obvious choices would be LB, Bob or AAAC.

 

[NudeCyclist]

LB making a break for it at the front in the overall league results. Might have to try something to close the gap a little, probably involving much rest then a final go (with some ghost drafting) before the stage closes. Not quite sure who to draft though, but obvious choices would be LB, Bob or AAAC.

I thought I added a couple of ghosts - for pacing of course :-) - to my ride but when I started the ride I was the only one. In fact I've never managed to get a ghost or a bot on any of my Bkool sessions. Am I missing something?

 

[BILL S]

I thought I added a couple of ghosts - for pacing of course :-) - to my ride but when I started the ride I was the only one. In fact I've never managed to get a ghost or a bot on any of my Bkool sessions. Am I missing something?

The easiest way is to challenge someone and you will get their ghost.
Go here:
http://www.bkool.com/classification/showIndividualStageClassification/4554
then pick who you want to challenge from the existing results.
From ride set-up you can switch ghosts and bots on or off. I tend to always switch off the bots as I don't find them useful.

 

[LBHIFI]

I did try to draft LB but i just couldn't get it right. I suspect its much harder to do in a virtual environment or perhaps its just me. Reading David Millars latest book and its really interesting when he writes about the peloton and conserving energy by, say, drafting and then putting on the power to string things out especially where they anticipate cross winds.

I think you did draft, but in the simulator races it doesn't get easier, we just go faster.
In real life it's much easier to settle in behind the "diesel" guys and save energy. Except when there's a sidewind, then there's often a battle going on for the best places.

 

[LBHIFI]

Bill and Rick, I saw pjpiranha request access in another thread: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/joining-a-riding-group-on-bkool.190255/page-3